Editing Evergreen International Aviation (section)

===1988===
In 1988, Evergreen’s founder, Delford M. Smith, acknowledged an agreement under which his companies provided “occasional jobs and cover” to foreign nationals the CIA sought to extract from or insert into other countries. This admission, reported by The Oregonian, confirmed Evergreen’s role in facilitating CIA covert operations, such as exfiltrating assets or defectors, which often operated in legal and ethical gray areas due to their secretive nature and potential involvement with controversial figures or regimes. Smith’s statement, while downplaying broader CIA ties by claiming ignorance of specific operations, fueled perceptions of Evergreen as a CIA front.

Evergreen’s acquisition of CIA-linked assets in the 1970s, including Montana’s Johnson Flying Service and the CIA’s aviation “skunk works” at Pinal Airpark in Marana, Arizona, further tied the company to the agency. The Pinal Airpark facility, previously part of the CIA’s Air America operation, was used by Evergreen for specialized aircraft modifications, including building Boeing Dreamlifters and servicing NASA’s Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. Evergreen also purchased assets from Intermountain Airlines, a known CIA front, in 1975, integrating them into Evergreen International Airlines. These acquisitions, detailed in declassified records, positioned Evergreen to inherit Air America’s role in CIA covert operations, particularly in Southeast Asia and Central America, raising questions about the extent of its involvement in activities like arms trafficking or covert logistics that could be linked to regional instability.